Expert Group on Archival Description (EGAD!) International Council on Archives. Fonds and Bonds Austin 2014

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1 Expert Group on Archival Description (EGAD!) International Council on Archives Fonds and Bonds Austin 2014

2 Overview What archivists describe, how they describe it, and why they describe that way Gavan McCarthy, Director, escholarship Research Centre, University of Melbourne/member of EGAD Overview of EGAD mandate: developing a conceptual model for archival description Daniel Pitti, Associate Director, Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities, University of Virginia/ chair of EGAD

3 What is Described Intergenerational transfer of knowledge Via Records - Published, Artifactual and... that stuff we create to help us do things Archivists deal with the detritus, the ad hoc, the ever changing, the systemic, the systemless - the fragmentary evidence of what actually happens Archivists have more in common with Archaeologists, Forensic Scientists and System Analysts than Librarians Archival descriptive or documentation systems have to deal with all variants that creative humans produce (the messiness of life)

4 How Records in Context Foremost: Principle of Provenance Describing records as a set, sets of sets: fonds series files items Frequently individual items are not described (Scandalous!)

5 Why Because of the nature of what is described: fragmentary evidence of what actually happens Describing at item-level would make many and perhaps most records beyond understanding Separating them from the context in which they are organically interrelated It is the interrelations that make them meaningful, understandable Describing all items in detail would obscure

6 Why Economy also a factor Complex graph would probably be best, but economically not feasible Hierarchy an economic, efficient alternative In the end, like our allied professional colleagues, we have to be practical!

7 ICA EGAD ICA is the international professional organization for archivists Develop standards for the archival community Standards for Description Committee on Best Practices and Standards: ISAD(G), ISAAR, ISDF and ISDIAH Expert Group on Archival Description Conceptual Model for Archival Description Records in Context (RIC)

8 Historical Context Since at least mid-19 th century, cultural heritage communities Reimagine description in relation to emerging and new communication technologies Trend Separate the components of description To efficiently and more effectively create prevailing access tool (e.g., book catalog, archival guides) At the same time, enable new tools, new perspectives, new paths, based on recombining the components Four ICA standards reflect this trend Though the separation and new perspectives not realized

9 Current Technologies Network, of course, and Markup (XML), and Database (SQL) XML and SQL have dominated but Emergence of Graph technologies: RDF, Semantic technologies and Linked Open Data More expressive, but also more challenging: complexity, quality Opportunities: separation, recombining, interrelating, opening domain borders, new perspectives, new paths Conceptual model for archival description intended to reposition community to take advantage of the opportunities

10 Work of EGAD Three teams, two products RIC Ontology (product) High-level: world as perceived by archivists Foundation for interrelating archival community with library and museum communities (CIDOC CRM/FRBRoo) CRM/FRBRoo consulted: mature, detailed, thoughtful RIC Conceptual Model (product) Subset of Ontology Recognizable as the heir to the four current ICA standards Principles and Terminology Ensure that RIC is grounded in established principles Ensure terminology is as unambiguous and clear as possible In many languages, particularly English and French (ICA official languages)

11 Current Status Ontology High-level classes including high-level descriptive entities Agent, Record, Record Set, Function, Mandate Conceptual Model High-level descriptive entities Agent, Record, Record Set, Function, Mandate Detailed comparison of ICA standards and Australian, Finnish, and Spanish models

12 Next Steps Ontology and Conceptual Model Date and Place, Topics, Relation (Event, Action, Transaction ) Detailed properties of each descriptive entity Next meeting: Girona, Spain, 15-17, October, 2014 Both Ontology and Conceptual Model drafts available for comment early 2015